What could have been
by akaio
Summary: I'm gonna mess with Canon, I wrote this a while ago, and I really liked the idea. It generally focuses on what if Sora had a heart of Darkness, and how that would affect the world around him... Contains many parings, but predominately AkuRoku.
1. Prologue

The girl ran down the stairs, eyes wide and hair flying wildly in the gust. Spiralling round and round she descended the small windows that she passed flooding her face with silver light, until it was batted away by the darkness of the tower. But still she ran, running deeper and deeper into the mouth of the darkness, until she could no longer see the thing she fled from in all that surrounded her. The necklace she wore illuminated her face with a pale blue glow, and bounced against her chest in an irregular pattern, as if it was the prey fleeing.

Finally the staircase opened up into an enormous auditorium. A stained glass window at the far end filled the room with the pale moonlight, and caused the titanic pillars to bathe the rest of the room in darkness. Silence filled the hall, except for the shallow gasping of the girl, and her light footsteps as she slowed her pace.

Gingerly, she looked around, trying to see if her pursuer had reached this far. Failing to make anything of the quiet, she collapsed on the ground and tried to regain her breath. Clutching the pendant in one hand, she closed her eyes, letting a single tear form underneath her eyelid, and slowly made its way down her smooth features. The tear fell from the bottom of her chin, and landed on the granite floor, the sound resonating throughout the hall.

"Your fear is your weakness," a smooth voice called out from the shadows. From the far side, a boy walked out, wearing a simple black cloak that swirled around his feet, and covered his face.

The girl leaped to her feet, and instantly looked around her for an escape. Laughing slightly, the boy clapped his hands. The shadows at the sides of the room quivered, and slithered forward towards the girl. Rising up from the floor were beings of darkness, only visible with their malevolent yellow eyes, all trained on their target. The girl, held her pendant close, and turned to face her adversary, eyes filled with fury.

The boy sighed mournfully as he approached his prey, "You are so beautiful...filled with hate...it burns within you, like wildfire." He reached out to stroke the girls cheek, when she raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

Silence fell. The girl stared unblinking into the unseen eyes of the boy, watching as he rose his own hand to touch the place where she struck. "I will never be yours," she spat, drenching each sound in hate.

"Fortunately I no longer care. I have found another mistress, one who will rule Castle Oblivion with me, and will sit at my side as the worlds fall..." the boy trailed off, his eyes looking down towards the pendant, "But one thing remains that I must still claim..."

"Never." The girl stepped back, "I will not be responsible for the death of the organization..."

"The organization," the boy paused, as if the word caused him pain, "is a savage group that hide in the darkness, which I will destroy."

"They have their hearts, therefore they have strength..."

"I have the keyblade, there is no other strength!" the boy roared, shoulders hunching. Pausing, he calmed, and spoke quieter than before, "I will give you one chance to live under my protection. All that I ask is that you give it to me." With that the boy raised his hand expectantly.

The girl shook her head, tears flooding down her face now, "What happened...you were good."

The boy simply laughed, and lowered his hood. Beneath was a flurry of spiked brown hair, deep blue eyes and a hauntingly pale complexion. "My light shall be forever alone, and so the worlds shall also become...alone...."

"Y-You..." hissed the girl.

"Yes me, me me me..." mocked the boy. "Damn, if I got 10 munny for every time...ah well. Now no more chit chat. Give me the light, and you shall be safe forever. Or must I really perform such a menial task?" flexing his hand, a weapon appeared in his hand, a dark, twisted key shaped sword, "because you know I will...Namine."

The girl closed her eyes, and raised her head to the ceiling. The pendant began to glow with a brighter light, and the shadows that surrounded the girl hissed, and stepped back.

"No!" cried the boy. Leaping forward, he swung the blade across the girl's chest, but not before the light had engulfed the room in its radiance, throwing the boy back and causing the shadows to disintegrate.

When the light finally cleared, the boy picked himself up, and walked over to the fallen girl, who was slowly fading away, black smoke rising from her torso. Snarling, he swung his blade and struck at her, but only to hit the marble floor beneath. The girl, now translucent, turned her head, and smiled weakly, and mouthed a sentence.

Getting down on one knee, the boy put his head next to the girl's mouth, and she repeated her sentence.

"_You can't escape the light, Sora..."_


	2. Wake

"All Aboard!"

The sun was shining brightly over Twilight Town. The air was crisp, and a sea breeze was blowing over sunset hill. The sound of the railway that passed beneath the mound buzzed like an annoyed bee hive, as the last days of the summer were finally drawing to a close. The sound of a child giggling away merged with the joined laughing of a confident group of teenagers, until the masses just joined into one sound. Away from the station though, the sounds began to fade away.

A boy was lying on the grass at the top of the hill. Blonde hair stuck out in seemingly random directions from his head, and his white trousers and jacket both contained similar black markings, like charcoaled burns. His face, apart from the light dustings of dirt, was surprisingly beautiful, almost as if it had been shaped by an artist.

"Hey, are you ok?" a girl ran up to the boy, and knelt down beside him, concern and bewilderment in her eyes.

Slowly, the boy opened his eyes, and squinted because of the sharp light. Groaning, he turned himself over and looked up. The girl had long, wavy brown hair, and caring green eyes. Blinking unsteadily, he hesitated when he opened his mouth, and finally managed to come up with a few words, "Who...where..."

"Wow, you must have slept up here, you look tired!" exclaimed the girl, helping up the boy, "I'm Olette, I live here. You know...Twilight Town...you're on Sunset Hill right now."

"Twilight...town..." the boy struggled with the phrase, his eyes filled with bewilderment. Looking, he saw a small town layout beneath him. To his left, he could see a ridge that covered his vision, and to his right he saw a railway line leading into the distance.

"I…guess you aren't from around here..." Olette concluded, hands on hips. "Well, I guess I can show you around..."

"Oi Olette, come on! We haven't got all day!" A loud voice shouted out from lower down the hill.

The boy jumped, and looked around. Olette just laughed "Don't worry, that's my friend, Hayner, he's pretty impatient. Come on, I'll introduce you!" and with that she turned and ran down a path. The boy started to follow, but stopped as he felt something move in his pocket. Rummaging, he eventually pulled out a pendant and a small slip of paper. The pendant was a beautiful design, a blue gem encrusted inside a gold frame, which sparkled in the gold light. Folding open the paper, the boy took a brief pause, until he realised that the sketchy black markings were words, spelling out a simple sentence.

_Find Axel –N_

Turning over the paper another sentence was revealed, this one above a small sketch of a heart among clouds.

_Kingdom Hearts is waiting, Roxas._

"Rox-as..." muttered the boy slowly, and returning the note to his pocket and hanging the pendant round his neck he looked up suddenly. Remembering Olette, the boy broke into a jog down the path and into the town...


	3. The Forbidden Words

The station was heaving with beach-goers, balls and surf-boards in hand, looking anxiously in either direction, wondering if it would be worth squeezing onto the next train or if they should wait. Roxas felt uneasy in such a large crowd, backing away cautiously, head darting from side to side, avoiding any eye contact. His head was ablaze with questions, why was he here, who was he, who was 'Axel', what kind of place or thing was Kingdom Hearts and why didn't he remember anything at all? He rubbed his temple as a dull pain began to arise in the base of his skull, and looked around, hoping to see the friendly girl again.

"Hey!" a girl cried out from across the station. Roxas looked up eagerly, standing on tip-toes to confirm the face. Yes, it was Olette, standing on top of a public bench, waving both arms in a joke-like fashion.

Darting through the crowd, with many-a 'excuse me's' and 'sorry's', and 'my bad!'s', Roxas finally made over to the other side, and grinned nervously at the group of new faces.

First was Olette, standing forwards with a charming smile on her face. To her side was a boy, with hair stuck up straight in a headband and a wildly huge grin plastered upon his face, wearing clothes that looked MUCH too big for him, even though he was a big kid already. Sat behind the two was another boy, with gelled blonde hair and combat half-pants. His eyes were closed, and his hands were slung behind his head, and he was twirling a toothpick in his mouth absent-mindedly, obviously unconcerned about Roxas' presence.

"H-hey," Roxas stammered, obviously shy, "I'm…uh, my name is…Roxas."

The boy on the bench snorted casually, and rolled his head. Standing up, he opened his eyes, revealing a chestnut brown colour, and he took a step forwards, put his hands on his hips and examined Roxas, from feet to head.

Olette took a step forwards, and slapped the boy around the back of the head. "Hayner!" she hissed, "you're making him uncomfortable!" Giving an apologetic look to Roxas, she turned to stare needles at the combats-boy. "Nice to meet you Roxas," he smiled, holding out her hand, "I'm Olette, this is Hayner, and this is Pence!"

"Olette said that she had found someone on Sunset Hill," the boy who Olette had signalled to as being called Pence said, "we were just on our way back into the main town, wanna tag along?"

Roxas blinked twice, and gave a shaky "O…kay…"

The boy who was named Hayner looked up to the station clock. "5 minutes," he declared, before folding his arms, sat down and looking at Roxas. After a pause, he lent forwards and asked, "So, Roxas was it? I haven't seen you around here before… where about are you from?"

"I don't know…" was all Roxas could manage, and he looked down, bashful.

"Alright, good start. Um, how long have you been here?"

"I don't know…"

"Who are you here with?"

"…"

"Right, right," Hayner rolled his eyes in desperation, "Um, well, are you GOING anywhere?"

Remembering the note, Roxas finally perked up, glad to finally have an answer, and cheerily declared "I'm looking for someone called 'Axel,' apparently I have to ask him something about a…Kingdom Hearts!"

All three faces froze, a look of shock coming across their faces. Slowly, they turned to look at each other, then to Roxas, then back to each other again. Olette finally sprung into action, pulling Roxas close into the group and putting a firm finger to her lips. Pence and Hayner looked around sharply, clenching their fists tightly.

"What…what did I say?" Roxas asked, bewildered.

"Shh!" hissed Hayner sharply. Looking around, his shoulders relaxed a while as he realised the station had continued on as normal. Turning back, he gave penetrating stare to Roxas, before checking the clock once more. "We get in quickly, straight to the corner," he told the other two, who nodded in agreement.

Almost on cue, a well-used train pulled into the station with an over-noisy squeal of iron brakes. The trio all ushered Roxas onto the train, past all of the beach goers, who seemed uninterested in going in the direction that train was headed. Once on-board, they hurried over to a corner window group of seat and sat Roxas down, taking up the seats squared around him. Not many others were on the train, a young couple sat on the opposite end of the carriage, and an old man sat in the middle, seemingly oblivious to the obvious tension emanating from the teens huddled in the corner.

The train pulled away, and it was several moments before Pence, sat opposite Roxas, broke the awkward silence. In hushed tones, he leaned forwards and explained, "those words, the 'Kay-Aich' name," he looked up, as if someone was watching him, "is real bad luck around here."

"How do you mean…" Roxas started, but Hayner quickly put his finger to his lips, "How do you mean bad luck?" Roxas repeated, quieter.

"You really don't know," Olette whispered, next to Roxas. Looking at his blank expression, she sighed, and muttered something incomprehensible, before looking up, "well I guess we have time. It all started two years ago…"


	4. The start of the Hunt

"Yeeeeaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!"

The cry echoed throughout the shadowed hallways of Castle Oblivion. Servants looked up, anxious to secure their own safety, eyes wide and mouths open as they breathed in sharply.

Sora was lying on top of a stone slab, shirtless, sweating profusely. "Will you STOP THAT!?" he roared, slamming down his fist hard.

The other figure in the room gave an exasperated sigh, and shook their head. "You asked me to examine your body," he explained, in a voice that almost squawked the words, "and this is what I am doing, sire."

"You've been examining…for an HOUR…" Sora sat up on the slab, hissing each word dangerously, "You BETTER have some results."

"It's not that simple, Naminé used a very complex spell on you, and it has left no physical marker…"

"Those are NOT the words you want to be using, unless you want to join your 'King,'" Sora spat the words, "in the dungeons!"

"I hadn't finished sir," the other figure remained composed, "while it left no physical markers, you're… 'aura' … has become more akin to that of a heartless."

"More akin? What are you getting at…"

"I think Naminé was trying to turn you into a heartless." The figure declared.

Sora stood up, and grabbed his cloak, swinging it over his body. "Why would she do that?" he asked, bewildered, "surely she knew that that would simply make me more in touch with the dark magics?"

"I think she did, so maybe she was trying to…" there was a brief pause, as if the other person was apprehensive of the next piece of information.

"Trying to…what?"

"Maybe she was trying to release your Nobody."

There was a heavy silence. Even though he did not move from his calm position, the other figure could hear Sora's heart pump against his chest.

"H-how…how is that possible?" Sora stammered at first, before continuing, trying to regain the air of control, "She didn't even touch me!"

"The pendant is a mysterious device," the figure, explained, as if he had foreseen these events, "if it is indeed, as she claimed, from…that place…it could have completely unknown power to us. There is good news though."

"There better be," Sora warned, sitting down in a nearby stone armchair.

"Due to your recent…deterioration, and the fact that you are," the other person paused, looking up and down Sora's body, observing, "_Not_ a heartless, can only mean that this Nobody is not…'complete.' Maybe it is trying to remaining 'connected' to you to draw strength from you."

Sora remained silent, letting the words sink in. Slowly, a smile began to form on his lips, an icy look that made the temperature of the room appear to drop significantly. "Then why are we waiting? Naminé obviously wanted this Nobody to defeat me after regaining it's full potential, so we take it out pre-emptively!"

"Of course," the figure raised a hand, revealing something akin to a white wing, "but we have no idea where Naminé sent it, and there are too many worlds to search, it would simply be impractical…"

"True, but... where would you send something you wanted to protect?"

The figure paused, and cautiously answered, "a safe place?"

"Naturally, and what would be the safest place that Naminé could have thought of…somewhere where, perhaps, where she had lived…"

The figure looked up, finally clicking in, "Twilight Town!" he exclaimed, squawking the last few syllables.

"Bingo, we will start there. Go, find this Nobody, and kill it," Sora waved his arm, dismissing the figure, "Oh, and Donald? Do not return until you have succeeded."

Donald did not turn, but instead gave an over-dramatic laugh and responded over his shoulder, "Sire, you sound as if I cam going to fail: I never fail."


	5. The story of Twilight Town

"It all started around two years ago, when the stars started to disappear from the sky. We thought nothing of it at first thought our eyes were just deceiving us, but then…people started to appear. They claimed that they were from _other_ worlds, that their homes had been 'consumed by the darkness.' Of course, no-one took any notice of this. We just thought they were like Old Man DiZ, who everyone knew had lost his mind. I mean, he kept on talking about hearts of people, and the hearts of the world… REAL obscure stuff."

"Well, that went on for a while, more people started arriving, and they just kept on coming. We tried to care for them all, but there was just no room. It was so sad, every day we had to walk past lines of starved families waiting for the soup kitchen to open. We had no idea what was going on, we were just kids, and school kept us occupied."

"And then two others arrived, they were different than everyone else. There was just something about them, a sort of presence. They claimed that they could fix everything, that they could send everyone home, they just needed to find their friend and then go to… _that place. _Their names were Riku and Kairi, and they claimed to be from a place called 'Destiny Islands.' They stayed with us for a while, lovely people, polite, charming, but…distant. And get this the friend they were looking for… was _him!_"

Roxas blinked again and asked incredulously, "Who?"

Olette gave a sort of tired sigh and hung her head. Pence leant forwards, taking over, "Don't tell us you've never heard of _him!_"

"…" Roxas shook his head.

"You know, the black prince, the king of despair, the emissary of shadows, Il Ruinate… comes on!" Pence looked up, making sure no one was listening, "Sora! They were looking for Sora!" he hissed.

"Let it go Pence, he hasn't heard of him," Hayner, leant forwards, "Riku and Kairi were looking for their friend, Sora. They said that with his help they could send the… heartless back to the darkness and return everyone back to their worlds. We listened to their story, but we turned a deaf ear most of the time. We had never heard of _that person_ before, so how were we meant to help. They stayed with us for a couple of weeks, and one day just disappeared. We've never heard of them since."

"It was only a couple of months before _they_ started appearing. Shadows, walking, living, moving shadows. They staid underground, away from the town, but people started disappearing. We were almost relieved, but the 'refugees' were beginning to freak out, as if they had seen this before. We had to find a way to calm them down, but nothing seemed to work. In the end the adults set up a sort of 'ghetto' in the mines, and sent all of the refugees there. The screams were terrible, but there was nothing else we could do."

"And then _that person_ came to the city. I was there when he called a meeting with all of the townspeople, and I can tell you that if ever I saw a face of evil on someone it was on that face. He just…felt, wrong, as if he was the result of some horrible situation. He told everyone that he could take the shadows and the refugees away, and give us solitude, as long as we pledged loyalty to him. We were desperate, we barely had enough food resources to support everyone now, we had to accept."

"One of our old friends, Namine, began to claim that the had visions in her sleep. We thought she was loosing it, but she kept on drawing a moon, in the shape of a heart, with a sort of door in it. She called it… _kingdom hearts._" Hayner barely breathed the words.

"Old man DiZ started to become obsessed with her drawings," Olette continued, "we went over to his house on the other side of the forest once, and all of the walls were plastered with her drawings, diagrams and equations, all resulting in the heart shaped moon again. We had a god laugh about this, but then the shadows appeared again, this time led by a…sort of captain. They took DiZ, and Namine, and burned his mansion to the ground, along with any of the drawings. We thought they were going to stay, but as soon as they had finished, they disappeared again."

"So ever since none of us ever mentioned the name of _that place_, for fear that they would take us away too. A sort of, secret pact." Hayner finished, as the train pulled into the station.

The group stood, and made their way into the large auditorium of a station that they had arrived in. Not many people were there, but Roxas could see from the eyes of those there a hidden sadness. Hayner, Pence and Olette's story seemed wild, but all the evidence was there. But why couldn't he remember anything? Was he from another world? He didn't think so, but how could he tell? As they made their way out of the station, Roxas just had more questions that needed answering, and was starting to fear the bold new world he had been thrown into…


	6. I recognize him

Outside of the station, Roxas gasped. In front of him was a small plaza, not to large in area, but bordered by a low wall was a picturesque town, uniformly brown in colour, spreading out for miles. At the borders, a grassy mountain rolled and swayed, but even more astonishing was the sun behind it all. Almost fighting between being orange and crimson, it shone with a magnificent glow that seemed to sweep Roxas away. Taking slow steps down onto the plaza, he felt his eyes lead his body, wishing to simply step out and be one with the perfect scene in front of him.

---

Back at the top of the steps of the station, Olette stood with Hayner, as Pence had disappeared into the town, fingering loose change with a promise to 'be back soon.' The two teens watched the white-clothed boy from a distance, both with a stern, puzzled gaze that they tried to hide, but shone through their eyes. As Roxas reached the barrier and hung his arms over the side, Olette took one step down.

"What do you think?" Hayner asked, stopping Olette by holding onto her shoulder, "of Roxas, I mean."

Olette turned, with a puzzled expression on her face, "what do you trying to get at?"

Hayner looked around momentarily, stepping closer to Olette. "I mean, he just seems so… so… oh," he bit his lip, whispering, "Don't you think it's weird? Its like he just…appeared out of the sky!"

"Oh, come on, " Olette, looked at Roxas, and then back, "you, of all people, should know that people 'falling out of the sky' is nothing strange around here."

"Yeah, I know…" Hayner looked down, then back, sterner, "Look, its just the way he looks at us. I…The day I saw _him_, I can remember what his eyes looked like, so clearly. And Roxas, his eyes, they look so similar, its too close… and the mention of _that place,_ what if he's a spy? What if they've found out about what we knew? He could be trying to trick us!"

Olette looked away. "Hayner," she spoke carefully now, choosing her words precisely, "I found him. He…for God's sake, he's just a kid! He's our age, how could he be a spy!"

Hayner opened his mouth, but nothing emerged.

"And how can you even come CLOSE to comparing him with _that person!_ So what, if they had similar eyes! What about Kairi and Namine, didn't they look nigh upon identical? Roxas is lost, he doesn't remember anything, and he's scared! We need to look after him, how can we assume anything if we don't know anything?"

Hayner grunted in sullen approval, respecting Olette's ideals. "Just," he felt his shoulders sink, and he thought about his next words, as if they were somehow complicated, "be careful. I couldn't lose you two."

Olette smiled gently and but soon placed a mock expression of disgust on her face hit Hayner's arm, "Gawd, you are so clingy!"

"Am not!" Hayner started, walking away at a purposefully fast pace.

Olette began to chase Hayner. "Are too!" she shouted, breaking Roxas' observation of the landscape and making him jump.

As Roxas turned, an expression of incredulous bewilderment formed on his face as he watched as the two chased each other all over the plaza, laughing in such a way Roxas became worried that they would forget to breathe. Finally, Hayner ran over to Roxas, and lent against the railing, laughing hard. Olette soon joined them, hands on knees, giggling to herself. The scene was so bizarre, so delightfully new to Roxas that he tried to stifle a snigger, but soon hard laughed with the other two, clutching his sides for fear of coming undone.

"Jeez, how long was I gone?" a cry from across the plaza asked, "or is this what usually happens when I leave you lot alone?"

Roxas turned to see Pence stood there with a big childish grin on his face, hands behind his back. With a face look of innocence, he took a step forwards and revealed four light blue ice-lollies. "Sea salt ice cream, anyone?"


End file.
